Car coupler



W. KELSO April- 24, 1928.

CAR COUPLER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 27, 1925 Iv 0 L W a Patented Apr. 24, 1928.

UNITED. s'rAT s,v

WILLIAM xE so,or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ATSSIGNOR 'IIOATHE MQCONWAY &

PATENT, oFFicEQ TORLEY COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH PENNSYTLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN SYLVANIA.

Application filed; April 27, 1925. Serial No. 26,131.

My invention relates to car. couplers and The principal object of the invention facilitate the raising of the locklifter and,

. D coupler, 5 H v Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view. of a the lock to a lock set position. H

In the standard D- coupler the operation of, moving the lock to lock set position requires the-application of considerable force.

Upon the initial raising .of the lifter the trunnions with which the latter is provided come in contactwith the upper walls of the trunnion slotsin the lockand as such walls, owing totilting of the lock, at times are disposed at a comparatively small angle to the horizontal, the sliding movement. of the trunnions in the trunnion slots, is corre-v spondingly diflicult. Moreover, after the trunnions of the lifter. have been moved forward and upward to, their extreme limit} within the lock, they are'still pos tioned off center or well to the rear of the gravity axis of the lock, and as aresult thelifting of the lock to lock set position is not as readily performed as would be thecase if the force for raising the lock were applied to the .latterat. a point nearer, the,v verticalv .line passing through the center of gravity thereof: In the present invention the operation of caus- 'ing the lock to assume .lock set position is rendered easier of accomplishmentby so constructingand relating .the lift e r,.lock and coupler head that during the initial raising of the lifter and its movement into the lock;

the lifter trunnions do not slide in contact with the top walls of the trunnion slots.

A principal feature of the invention, gen-.

erally stated, .consists in combining a verti-; callymovable rearwardly swinging lock with V a coupler knuckle, a-lifter for. actuating,

said lock having outwardly extending trunnions which are received in an-upwardly and rearwardly openlngjslot 1n ;the' lock and a couplerg headhaving a projection, .dis-fl posed rearwardly of-said lock and adapted to engage the lower 'endjof the lifter to prevent accidental unlocking of the lock,- the lowerend of the lifter -being adapted .dnr-q ing its initial unlocking movement to encan COUQPILER.

gage slide upon said projection so as tov prevent the:upper sides of the lifter tr-un-.

nions from coming into sliding contact with coupler, the lock and its lifter being in 'ele-.

vation and the parts being in locked relation.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectionalyview of aportion. of. the mechanism shown in Fig;

1, but illustrating the lifter in the position{ it assumes at the end of its initial-unlockingmovement. 1 l i .Figure 3 is a detail elevationalview of a portion of the lock and lifter, the parts being inthe position shown in Fig. 2. Y In the drawings, l is the coupler head upon which the rotatable knuckle v(not. shown) is mounted inthe usual manner.

Outward rotation of the knuckle is nor mally -restrained',by-means of a lock 2 have ing, a downwardly extending leg 3 .which head and, under the influence-of the upward pull upon the lock exerted by the-lifter,

swings rearwardly so as to effect a knuckle opening rotation of the knuckle opener 6. The knuckle opener is preferably ofth'e. standard form: employed in the D-coupler, that is to say it is a horizontally.rotatable bell crank lever pivotallymounted upon the lowerwall of the coupler head, one of its ends being disposed in the path of movement of the depending leg-8 ofthe lock and its otherendlextending behind the tail of the knuckle in position to communicate uncouplingrotation to the latter,

. The-lock 2 is provided with upwardly I and rearwardly opening slot 7 for receiving the lower end of the lifter 8. The sidewalls of the. slot 7. are-recessed as at 9 to receive and permit sliding'movement ofv the oppositely disposed trunnions 10 formed upon the lifter adjacent its lower end, the upper portions of said recesses being cylindrically curved so as to permit of a relative turning or pivotal movement of the lock 2 and lifter 8 when the lifter has been fully retracted into the lock. The side walls of the lifter receiving slot 7 are preferably provided with shoulders or faces 11 with which the trunnions 10 are respectively adapted to cooperate in the initial unlocking movement of the lifter. The shoulders normally stand immediately in advance of the trunnions, and when the lifter executes its preliminary movement engage said trunnions so'as to compel the lower end of the lifter to move upwardly toward the lock down lug or projection 12 of the coupler head before, it passes from beneath said lug. For a similar purpose, and as is alsodeemed preferable, the lifter 8 may be formed at its lower end with a downwardly extending lug or shoulder 13 which, as shown in Fig. 1, overlaps the rear face of the lock 2 when the parts are in normal locked relation; Bythe cooperation of this lug 13 with the rear face of the lock the lower end of the lifter 8. is likewise compelled to move upwardly ,toward. the lock-to-the-lock projection 12 of the couplerhead before it can be retracted into the slot of the lock 2.

' At is lower end the lifter 8 has an upwardly facing shoulder, 14 which normally stands beneath the lock down lug 12 in spaced relation thereto. If thelock 251ttempts accidentally to move to unlocked position the shoulder 14, functioningin a well known manner, comes into contact with the lower face of the lug 12 and arrests said ac cidental unlocking movement.

When in normal lockedirelation the shoulder 14 of the lifter is spaced from the lower end of the lock-to-the-lock projection 12 of the coupler head a distance such that the said shoulder '14 will contact the projection 12 before the trunnions 10 have been raised high enough to come into engagement with the inclined upper walls 15 of the trunnion slots in the lock. The withdrawal of the lower end of the lifter into the slot 7 of the lock is thus effected while the upper surfaces of the trunnions 10 are held out of contact with the top walls 15 of the trunnion slots and frictional contactbetween theseparts is thereby avoided. In the D coupler as at present constructed the lock 2 when in locked position is capable of tilting longitudinallyof the coupler so that the lower wall 16 of the slot 7 and the upper walls 'ofthe trunnion slots, which are parallel thereto, at times assume inclinedpositions varying from about 31 degrees to 40 degrees to the horizontal, while the inclined lower face 17 of the lug 12 is approximately forty degrees to the horizontal at all times. It will be appreciated, therefore,that by causing the lower end of the lifter 8 to cooperate with the under face of the lug 12 during the initial unlocking movement of the lifter, instead of relating the partsso that the trunnions 10 slide upon the inclined top walls of the trunnion slots during such movement, the force required to withdraw the "lifter 8 into the slot of the lock is very' considerably reduced. This contact of the surface 14 of the lifter with the surface 17 of the lug continues until the lifter has been drawn into the lock to practically the full extent, and as the trunnions 10 are then further forward and nearer the center ofv the lock than they are in the standard design, the lock may be raised to lock set position with greater ease.

It is preferredjthat the inclined face1t at the lower end of the lifter shall have the same inclination to the vertical asthat of the end face 17 of the lock down projection 12 of the coupler head. It is also advantae geous to form the top walls 15 of the trunnion slots at such an inclination as to offer, in any' tilted position the locks may assumewhen in locked relation, no greater resistance to the movementof the lifter toward its looks lifting position than would'result from the sliding of the lifter onthe surface 17 ofthe lock down projection'12, of theco upler head; for if, asthe result of wear, or. because of castings not being to gauge, or for any other reason, the trunnions 10 should come into sliding contact withthe walls 15 of theloc'k, the inclination of said walls ensure easy action even under such circumstances.

shown in the drawings, the lower wall 16 of the slot 7' may be less steeply inclined than are the upper walls15 of the'trunnion slots, preferably having the same inclina tion as it now has in the standard D coupler.-

1. In a car coupler, the combination with a coupler head, knuckle, a'knuckle opening lever, and a vertically movable lock for said knuckle adapted to swing rearwardly so as to engage and actuate said knuckle opening lever, of a lifter, for actuating said lock, said head being provided rearwardly of said lock with a projection having aninclined face adapted to engage the lower end of said lifter to prevent accidental unlocking of said lock, said lifter being providedgwith oppositely extending trunnions and its .lower end being adapted to stand beneath said projection when said lock and lifter are in normallocked relation, said lock being provided at its upper end with an upwardly and rear wardly opening slot 'whose side walls are formed with recesses to receive said trunnions, the upper walls of said recesseswhen the lock is in normal locked position being more steeply inclined than said inclined face of said projection, said lifter being slidably and rotatably movable in said slot and being adapted'when performing an unlocking operation to execute a preliminary movement with respect to said lock causing the lower end of said lifter to be withdrawn from beneath said projection,and the lower end of said lifter being adapted to engage and slide upon said projection during said preliminary movement while said trunnions are out of contact with the upper walls of said re cesses. I

2. In a car coupler, the combination with a coupler head, knuckle, knuckle opening lever, and a gravity actuated lock for said knuckle adapted to swing rearwardly so as to engage and operate said knuckle-opening lever, of a lifter for actuating said lock, said head being provided rearwardly of said lock with a projection having an inclined face adapted to engage the lower end of said lifter to prevent accidental unlocking of said. lock, saidlifter being provided with oppositely extending trunnions-sand its lower end being adapted to stand beneath and in spaced rela} tion to said inclined face when the lock and lifter are in normal locked, relation, said lock being provided at its upper end with an upwardly and rearwardly opening slot whose side walls are formed with recesses to receive said trunnions, the upper walls of said recesses when the lock is in normal locked position being more steeply inclined than said inclined face of said projection, said lifter being slidably and rotatably movable in said slot and being adapted when performing an unlocking operation to execute a preliminary movement with respect to said lock causing the lower end of said lifter to be withdrawn from beneath said projection, said preliminary movement being adapted to cause the lower end of said lifter to contact said inclined face and to slide with respect thereto while in contact therewith and while said trunnions are in spaced relation to said upper walls.

3. In a car coupler, the combination with a coupler head, knuckle, knuckle opening lever, and a vertically movable lock for said knuckle adapted to swing rearwardly so as to engage and actuate said knuckle opening lever, of a lifter for actuating said lock, said lock being provided at its upper end with an I upwardly and'rearwardly opening slot with in which said lifter is slidably and rotatabl y movable, said head being provided with a projection adapted to engage the lower end of said lifter-to prevent accidental unlocking of said lock, said lifter being provided with oppositely extending trunnionsandthe side walls of the slot in said lock being formed with recesses to receive said trunnions, the upper and lowerwalls of said recesses being inclined and said upper walls being thesteep er, the lower end of said lifter being adapted to extend beneath said projection in spaced relation thereto when the lock and litter are in normal locked positions, said lock and lifter having cooperating portions adapted to cause the lower end-of saidlifter to move toward said projection before being withdrawn from beneath the latter when said lifter performs an unlocking operation, and the lower end of said lifter being slidable in contact with the under side of said projection during the unlocking operation of said lifter while said trunnions are out of contact with said upper walls.

4'. In a car coupler, the combination with "a coupler head, knuckle, and a vertically movable and rearwardly swinging lock for said knuckle, of a lifter for actuating sald .lock, said head being provided rearwardly of said lock with a projection having an inclined face adapted to engage the lower end of said lifter to prevent accidental unlocking of said lock, said lifter being provided with oppositely extending trunnions and its lower end being adapted to stand beneath said inclined face when the lock and lifter are in normal locked relation, said lock being pro{ vided at its upper end with an upwardly and rearwardly opening slot having oppositely disposed lateral recesses for receiving said trunnions, the upper'walls of said recesses in any position the'lock may assume while the parts are in locked relation being in-.

clined to the horizontal at an acute angle notless than the acute angle formed with the horizontal by the inclined face of said projection, and the lower end of said lifter being adapted to contact and slide upon the inclined face of said projection when said lifter performs an unlocking operation.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

WILLIAM KELSO. 

